Atlantis Under Antarctica?

And Other Things to Ponder

Earthquakes are one of Terra's many mysteries - so sudden and sometimes so lethal - which is why efforts continue to understand what causes them, perhaps in the faint hope that one day we'll be able to predict them.

In the meantime, they have their uses.

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi is making political capital out of a devastating earthquake.

Ostensibly to show solidarity with the victims he has moved the coming G8 Summit venue to L'Aquilla, the town that was devastated by an earthquake just a few months ago,

No doubt the G8 will talk much about sympathy - but that does nothing to stop, prevent, or recover from Nature's increasing earthquake activity and the terrible consequences for those who survive.

While billions get spent on ever more futuristic ways to kill civilians in small numbers (such as drone planes that target 'enemies' in the tribal regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan) three years after a devastating earthquake left over 3 million people homeless in Pakistan, they are still oh-so-slowly getting their lives back together after years in refugee camps.

But enough of that. We need to find out what causes earthquakes.

"CSIRO Australia reports that scientists have discovered a natural pump deep within the Earth that is important in the formation of earthquakes and ore deposits. The process – called ‘creep cavitation’ – involves fluid being pumped through pores in rock."

They're talking about water and other fluids acting over long periods of time, creating deposits of ore here and there, but also being part of the earthquake process.

If you think about it, oil is a natural lubricant - but water is much less so. Nor can water be compressed. In fact, it can be a powerful ally if you're into splitting big rocks in winter the old fashioned way. All you do is find a crack in a rock, or create one, pour water into it, and when it freezes, it will expand and the rock will split.

That being the case, one must consider that pumping fluid out of the earth - in this case oil - must be akin to replacing the oil in your car's crankcase with water. That's what happens underground - the oil is removed, but it is replaced by water that seeps into the cavity.

By analogy, the engine will still function, but in the absence of oil it will very quickly get out of balance. Because of the sudden friction, extra heat and natural expansion it will reshape itself from the inside out. Pretty soon you'll have thrown a conrod or put a piston through the block.

The earth just happens to be a much bigger engine, operating on a different time scale - but when the piston comes through the block, and you're anywhere nearby, you're going to feel the effects instantly.

Unfortunately, on the average engine there is no telling which piston will go first, or in what sequence things will happen.

But whatever the results, the cause and the effect are essentially the same.

Deliberately upsetting the inner dynamics of the engine, or the earth, is bad karma.

peaking of bad karma, does it get any worse than being born in Bangladesh - or China - or India?

Floods have stranded half a million Bangladeshis in their homes, and in China, 150,000 people have had to move from their flood-threatened homes.

As for India, a vast country constantly plagued by droughts, heat waves, storms and floods - well, like many other countries, she's building a massive dam in an earthquake-prone area, upriver from Bangladesh.

Governments and their engineers will never tell you this is a dangerous practice - they'll just rationalize the project, build it with your tax dollars, tell you it will "create jobs," be "good for agriculture," or "provide electricity to the poor," and so on.

Then they'll flood your nice little home in the valley, sell the project to private enterprise (and keep the money) and blame Nature when the earthquakes start and the dam bursts.

In this case, it's the Tipaimukh dam across the border in India that has Bangladesh worried.

Textile and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui says "if there is an earthquake the whole eastern part of Bangladesh will go under water."

Since you know those who are building the dam just won't stop, living in a valley downstream from any dam, anywhere, has to be a dam-dumb move don't you think?

That's because water always flows downhill (which is the first rule of plumbing a toilet - if you have one) - except when Antarctic ice melts, and water flows uphill, which is the little-known second rule of global plumbing.

Kiwi scientist (Kiwi being the slang term for a New Zealander, since they adopted a flightless nocturnal bird - NOT a fuzzy green fruit thing - as their national symbol) - Kiwi scientist Tim Naish says: "new evidence shows that changes to Antarctica's most vulnerable element, the West Antarctic ice sheet, could raise global sea levels by up to 5 meters (16 ft)."

This is only a bad thing if you are less than 5.5 meters tall, or if you are a blue eyed gorgeous blond (either sex) living close to the ruins of ancient Atlantis under the ice in Antarctica.

To sum up, you are living in "interesting times," so while you're here, you might as well enjoy it. Be happy that earthquakes are happening somewhere else, the floods in your area only happen every 100 years, you weren't born in Bangladesh, you know the difference between oil and water when you work on your car, Antarctica is too big to fail, and your favorite politician has just sent his banker friend and controller on holiday....with your money.

It is the month of June; a resort town sits next to the shores of a large lake.  It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich, fat-cat tourist comes to town. (The Banker).

He enters the only hotel, lays a $100 bill on the reception counter, andgoes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the $100 bill and runs to pay his debt to thebutcher.

The Butcher takes the $100 bill, and runs to pay his debt to the pigraiser.

The pig raiser takes the $100 bill, and runs to pay his debt to thesupplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the $100 bill and runs to pay hisdebt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her"services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the $100 billto the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when shebrought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so thatthe rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms,and takes his $100 bill, after saying that he did not like any of therooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything.  However, the whole town is now without debt,and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government isdoing business today.

(NB: It was just too complicated to rewrite that little story with the addition of 10 per cent interest to every transaction....but if we had, you'd realize that The Banker would have multiplied his money many times over, and everyone else would be - in real terms - a lot worse off than when that first $100 started the rounds).

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